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OWE UNION — ONE CONSTITUTION — ONE DESTIN7. ^ • S o 



SPEECH 

OF 

HOI. JAMES S. ROLLINS, 

OF Missoum, 

ON * f: 

THE REBELLION. 



DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, APRIL 24, 1862. 



Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. I move that the rules be suspended, and that the House 
fesolve itself into the Comn.ittee of the Whole on the state of the Uni(.!i, for the purpose 
of giving the genMemnn from Missouri, (Mr. Rollins,) an opportunity of making his 
speech, and any other gentlemen who desire to he heard. 1 shall propose to take up 
House bill No 413. 

The motion was agreed to. 

So the rules were suspended; and the House accordingly resolved itself into the Com- 
mittee of the Whole on tiie state of the Union, (Mr. Walton, of Vermont, in the chair.) 

Ou motion of Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont, the committee proceeded to the considera- 
tion of the bill (II. R. Xo. 413) making an appropriation for the payment of the bounty 
to widows and legal heirs of volunteers who have died or may die, or have been killed 
or may be killed in sei-vice, as provided in the act of July 22, 1861. 

Mr. ROLLINS, of Missouri, address;;d the committee as follows: 

Mr. Chairman : I feel deeply indebted to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. 
Morrill) for his generous courtes}', in submitting the motion to go into Com- 
mittee of the Whole, at this time, in order to enable me to speak upon the 
subject of onr present national troubles. I propose to make an old-fashioned, 
patriotic speech, and whilst not intended as an answer to, will follow appropri- 
ately, I trust, the very remarkable and vindictive speech to which we have been 
compelled to-day to listen, from the gentlemen from Illinois, (Mr. LovEjoy.) 
In the brief hour allowed to me by the rules of the House, I shall not atlenipt, 
to any extent, the discussion of those great constitutional questions which have 
grown out of the present rebellion. 1 shall content myself by stating frankly 
the impressions made upon my own mind, and the opinions formed by the 
changed circumstances which surround us, and with such appropriate alhisioa 
to the causes of our great troubles, and the remedy for them, as the occasion 
seems to suggest. 

Perhaps in all history no more melancholy spectacle was ever presented 
to the gaze of men than that which we have looked upon in this country 
during the last twelve months. A great nation hitherto blessed beyond that 
of any other people of ancient or modern times, with a Constitution and form 
of government at once the wonder and admiration of mankind, without a pub- 
lic debt, and almost free from taxation, enjoying a degree of civil and religious 
liberty never attiined by any other nation, having the benefits of moral and 
intellectual culture diffused among all the masses of the piiople, great in all the 
elements of national power, in the supposed intelligence, virtue, and patriotism 
of the people, iu commerce, in manufactures, in agriculture, in art, literature, 



•' 2 ^^^^ 

and science, and bidding fair to rival the proudest nation of all the earth ; our 
armies invincible at home, our navies riding upon every sea ! Such, Mr. Chair- 
man, is a fair presentation of the condition of our country one short year ago. 
But how changed the scene ! In the place of peace, prosperity, and happiness, 
we find ourselves engaged in civil strife ; the hostile tread of armed men is 
heard on every side; the nation is convulsed from centre to circumference with 
great and warlike preparations ; the clash of arms is heard throughout the land, 
and blood is made to flow on a hundred battle-fields, and our national existence 
is threatened with overthrow. It is a fearful question. Who and what has 
caused this sudden and unexpected change ? Where were our wise men and 
prudent legislators, that whatever causes of discontent existed might not have 
been removed ? Upon the Administration of James Buchanan and the Thirty- 
Sixth Congress rests the fearful responsibility of permitting the present fearful 
state of things to exist; and in all time to come the closing days of his Ad- 
ministration, and the action of that Congress, will be regarded as the darkest 
period in American history. 

Mr. Chairman, I belong to that class of men who believe that it is far better 
to settle all questions of national difiiculty by an appeal to reason and to the 
ballot-box rather than by the arbitrament of arms ; and I am sincere in the 
reflection that, considering the boasted civilization of the American people, the 
present civil war must be regarded in all time to come as a scandal and disgrace 
to the age in which we live, and the authors of it, when the passions of the 
present hour shall have subsided, in the judgment of posterity will be consid- 
ered as the moral monsters of this generation, and the worst foes to free insti- 
tutions and tlie cause of well-regulated liberty among men. 

This rebellion is one of the legitimate fruits of the excesses to which party 
spirit has been carried in this country, and of the continued and fierce agitation 
of the question of African slavery ; the loss of political power furnishing a mo- 
tive to ambitious men to put it' on foot, and the slavery question being the 
moving power by which they hoped to excite and enlist the sympathies and the 
services of the great body of the southern people. The national Government 
having fallen into the hands of a weak and vacillating President, his Cabinet 
composed in part of the conspirators themselves — bold, reckless, and unscrupu- 
lous — using their ill-gotten power to encourage the purposes of disloyalty and 
precipitate national disaster; whilst the people, shocked and amazed, and yet 
incredulous as to the wicked objects which these men had in view, the rebel- 
lion at the outset met with a degree of success and encouragement, causing 
thousands of good men to doubt the ability of the Government to check its 
progress and to overthrow those who had taken up arms against it. Never 
did a free people enter more reluctantly into an unwilling contest than did the 
loyal people of the United States with the disunionists of the South, who 
" forced this war upon the country." It was not until State after State had 
broken their plighted faith and violated all the obligations of the Federal Con- 
stitution, in passing ordinances of secession, not until the Federal Treasury had 
been robbed, our arsenals and armories despoiled of their arms, our ships sent 
to distant seas, armies raised to resist the authority of the General Government, 
peaceful vessels fired into, and a weak amd beleaguered garrison compelled to 
surrender, that the national Government took the first step to exert its authority 
and to maintain the supremacy of the laws and the Federal Constitution. 
Never in the history of the world was so much forbearance displayed by a 
great Government towards those in rebellion against it, and who were plotting 
its overthrow. 

The purpose from the beginning was to break up the Government. For more 
than a quarter of a century a great party, founded upon the most pernicious 
theories, and denying the mostfiiab»iwff«hnd direct teachings of the Federal 
Weet. Bee. Hl»*« B^c- 



Constitution, as found in the letter as well as in the spirit of that instrument, 
and its contemporaneous exposition by the authorized departments of the Gov- 
ernment, as well as by the great minds of the nation most competent to ex- 
pound it, have been seeking pretexts to divide and dismember the Confederacy. 
Checked in their purposes of disloyalty by that man of iron will, Andrew 
Jackson, in 1832, and relieved from the dangerous predicament in which they 
found themselves placed at that time by the generous and liberal statesmanship 
of Henry Clay, they have lost no opportunity since to sow the seed of discord 
and encourage and foment a spirit of disloyalty and opposition to the authority 
of the Federal Government. Starting out originally in their crusade upon the 
taritf question, they readily relinquished it for one of a more excitable charac- 
ter, and in regard to which the "southern heart could be more easily fired." 
Receiving all the aid which they desired from another class of men, little less 
dangerous and no better than themselves, and equally intent upon mischief — 
men who act upon the motto of ";io union with slaveholders,''' and who have 
inscribed upon their banner that the Constitution of the United States is a 
*^ covenant with death and an agreement loith hell;^'' who have done all in their 
power to obstruct and to prevent the execution of the Federal laws in the 
northern States; who have inspired a spirit of hatred among their own people 
against the South and southern institutions; who prefer to see the Union 
broken if slavery be not abolished — it is not to be wondered at that the leaders 
of this "infamous rebellion," representing the opinions of these "fanatical men," 
as the voice of the northern people, and urging upon them the false idea that 
it was the purpose to interfere with and destroy one of their institutions in the 
southern States, without regard to the guarantees thrown around it in the Fede- 
ral Constitution, have so far succeeded in enlisting beneath their banner so 
many well-meaning but deluded followers. Instead of seeking redress through 
the mode pointed out in the Constitution itself, for any grievances of which 
they had a right to complain, by asking an amendment of that instrument, 
they seized"upon the election of Abraham Lincoln as President, although fairly 
chosen, and accoiding to all the forms of law, by a majority of the freemen of 
the nation, to carry into etFect their unpatriotic and hellish purposes. Even 
before he was inaugurated, before any step had been taken by him calculated 
to produce alarm or to indicate that he intended in any way to interfere with 
the legal and constitutional rights of southern men, and in the face of the reso- 
lution, constituting a part of the platform of the party that elected him, this 
rebellion is set on foot, and before the 4th day of March, 1861, seven out of 
fifteen southern States had passed ordinances of secession, and erected another 
government within the boundaries of the Republic. 

Mr. Chairman,! denounce this as a most causeless and 'infamous rebellion. 
I have regarded it as such from the beginning, and as involving a greater de- 
gree of turpitude and crime than any other attempted revolution in the world's 
history. I do not pretend to deny that there were causes of irritation and dis- 
content; that a large portion of the northern people had acted in bad faith in 
not yielding to, and carrying out in good faith, the true spirit and purposes of 
the Federal Constitution in regard to the rendition of fugitive slaves. But 
these things furnished no justification to these ambitious men for starting a re- 
bellion like this. And especially was it a most wicked and unjustifiabTc step 
on the part of South Carolina and the other extreme southern States by which 
she was encouraged, and all of whose citizens had not suftered as much in any 
disturbance of their rights of property as the citizens of one single county of 
the district that I have the honor to represent on this floor. 

Mr, Chairman, I have said that these grievances ought to have been settled ; 
our bleeding country feels the truth of this remark to-day. In a spirit of fra- 
ternity and union, and led by the same noble and elevated sentiments of pat- 



riotisin which guided and controlled the fathers of the Republic in the forma- 
tion of the Federal Constitution, they would have been settled. Surely, sir, 
there is not a man holding a seat here, or in the nation, and who is governed 
by the noble instincts of patriotism and humanity, who would not to-day have 
preferred the adoption of the compromise otfered by my venerable friend who 
sits before me, [Mr. Chittenden,] or that offered by the gentleman fiom Illi- 
nois, [Mr. Kellogg,] or, indeed, either of the compromises offered in the Thir- 
ty-Sixth Congress, to the present lamentable state of things by which we find 
ourselves surrounded. I hear men frequently denounce all compromise ; but, 
sir, what is government itself but a compromise of conflicting opinions? How 
would our own matchless form of government ever have been instituied except 
by conciliation and compromise ? How would the little State of Rhode Is- 
land, so ably and so honorably represented here, exeri, the same influence in 
the other end of the capital, in the legislation of the country, as the great State 
of New York, except for the spirit of compromise and concession which con- 
trolled and guided the framers of the Federal Constitution? If such men a.s 
George Washington and John Hancock, Thomas Jetferson and John Adams, 
could meet in council together in devising and framing a system of govern- 
ment for themselves and their posterity, in comparing and yielding their precon- 
ceived individual sentiments, in order to form a Consiitution adapted to the 
wants and necessities and varied and discordant interests and dissimilar institu- 
tions of the then thirteen colonies, there is no reason why the men of this gen- 
eration, who have profitted so much by the labors and sacrifices of these great 
and good men, should not follow their example, and, in a spirit of peace and 
conciliation, make to each other such concessions as are demanded by the 
wrowth, the practical necessities, and the more enlarged and varied interests of 
the entire country. In all this, there would have been no sacrifice either of 
truth or principle. And but for this yielding of preconceived notions, we might 
not, and would not have been blessed with the noble form of government under 
which we live, and which lias been and can only be preserved in all future time 
by listeniiig to the admonitions and following the wise example of those who 
framed it. We have heard much about clinging to an idea. The gentleman 
frota Maine [Mr. Fessenden] tells us that he honors the men of '' an idea to 
which they cling with the tenacity of death 1" Sir, the men of the American 
Revolutioii were pre-eminently men of ideas; but they thought that it was not 
best to cling with such tenacity to a "single idea" as to endanger the great 
purpose which they had in view — the founding on this continent of a Govern- 
ment dedicated to the principles of civil and religious liberty. 

If the doctrine of which we now hear so much, "no Tnion with slavehol- 
ders" no Union without emancipation, had been proclaimed and adhered 
to in the convention that framed the Constitution, we all know that the 
Government under which we live would never have been established. An 
attempt, on the part of the general Government, to enforce the same thing 
now will be equally fatal to the cause of the Union. It is the province 
of wisdom to deal with things as we find them. There is no practical 
statesmanship in clinging to "an idea," and thereby endangering the very 
existence of the Government. Men who cling with such tenacity to " an idea" 
may mean well, but they cannot be safe counsellors in times like these, when 
all that we hold dear is so deeply imperiled. Such men are well described in 
the following extract which I recently met with in an interesting book, and 
which I cordially commend to the gentleman from Maine, and also the gentle- 
man fniin Illinois, (Mr. IjOVEjoy,) and those who act with them: 

"Arsons the objects of interest very often, if not always, to be found at the foot of 
dams and cataracts, are wliat are called ' pot holes.' They arc round holes worn in the 
solid rock by a single stone kept in motion by the water. Some of them are very large. 



and others are small. Wlien the stream becomes dry there they are, smooth as if turned 
out by macliirery, and the liard round pebbles at the bottom by which the curiou? work 
was done. Every yt^ar, as tiie dry season conies along, we tiiid that tlie lioles have 
grown larger, ami t.lie pebbles smaller, and that no freshet has been iounJ powerful 
enough to dislodge the pebbles and release the rock from its attrition. 

" Js'ow, if a man will tuin from the contemplation of one of these ' pot holes,' and th« 
means by which it is made, and seek for that result and that process in the world of mind, 
which niost resemble them, I am sure that he will find them in a man of one 'idea.' la 
truth, these scenes that I have been painting were all recalled to me by looking ui'on one 
of these men, studying his character, and watching the eflfect of tlie 'single idea' by 
which he was actuated. ' There,' said I involuntarily, ' is a moral pot hole with a pebble 
in it, and thrt hole grows larger and the pebble smaller every year.' 

'• I suppo.-; it is useless to undertake to reform men of 'one idea.' The real trouble is 
that the pebble is in them, and whole freshets of truth are poured upon them only with 
the effect to ntake it more lively in its grinding, and more certain in its process of wear- 
ing out itself and them. The little man who, when ordered by his physician 1,o take a 
quart of me.Ucine, informed him with a deprecatorj' whimper that he did not hold but 
a pint, illusM-ates the capacity of many of those who are subjects of a 'single idea.' They 
do not hold but one, and it would be useless to prescribe a larger number. In a country 
like ours, in which ever^Mhing is new, and every body is free, there are multitudes of self- 
constituted doctors, each of whom has a nostrum for curing all physical and moral dis- 
orders and diseases — a patent process by which huinanitj- may achieve its proudest pro- 
gress and its everlasting h. I ppinees. The country is full of hobby riders, booted and spurred, 
who imagine they are leading a grand race to a golden goal, forgetful of the truth that 
their steeds are tethered to a single idea, around which the\' are revolving only to tread 
down the grass, and wind themselves up, where they may stand at last amid the world's 
ridicule, and stoned to death." 

Mr. Chairman, I have been tauglit to believe that the true theory of our 
Government is, that "the Federal Constitution and the laws passt-d in pursu- 
ance thereof" are the " supreme law of the land." Any other view would pro- 
duce an endless conflict, and it is the opposite doctrine of those who attempt 
to exalt the States above the General Government, and the pressing of these 
claims to an extreme length, which has been largely instrumental in bringiug 
about the present disastrous state of things. Our first and paramount allegi- 
ance is due to the General Government. In his great speech on the compro^ 
mise measures of 1850, Ueury Clay used the following language : 

"If any one Statfe, or any one portion of the people of any State, choose to place them- 
Belves in array against the Government of the Union, I am for trying the Htrenr/tk of this 
Government. 1 am for ascertaining whether we have a Government or not, piacticable, 
efficient, capable of maintaining its authority, and upholding the powers and interest.* 
which belong to a Government. Nor, sir, am I to be alarmed or dissuaded from any such 
course by intimations of the spilling of blood. If blood is to be spilt, by whose fault is 
it to be spilt? Upon the supposition, I maintained, it will be the fault of those who 
choose to raise the standard of disunion, and endeavor to prostrate the Government. And, 
sir, when that is done, so long as it pleases God to give me a voice to express my senti- 
ments, or an arm, weak and enfeebled as it may be by age, that voice and that arm will 
be on the side of my country, for the support of the general authority, and for the main- 
tenance of the poweis of the Union." »**«*«*♦ 

If Kentucky tomorrow unfurls the banner of resistance, I never will fight under that 
banner, I owe a paramount allegiance to the whole Union — a subordinate one to my own 
State. — IIe.vkv Cl.\y, iu the Senate, 1850. 

I stand upon this doctrine to-day. It is based upon the true theory of our 
Government. And when Missouri, or any other State, shall raise the .standard 
of rebellion, I shall feel that my primary allegiance is due to the General Gor- 
ernment. And if in a conflict of this kiiul the nation is involved in war, as it 
now is, and blood be shed, let the responsibility rest where it properly belongs, 
on those who have commenced the contest in striking the first blow and firing 
the first gun. And if dissaster and ruin shall follow the interests and institu- 
tions of tliosc who have thus involved the nation in an unfortunate and bloodj 
contest to maintain its own existence, I have that confidence in the courage 
and integrity of the masses that they will, in due season, visit upon the heads 



6 

of tlie guilty authors of those troubles that punishment which they so justly 
merit. Acquiescence in the elegtion of Mr. Lincoln, and which was the patri- 
otic duty of every citizen of the Republic, would have saved us all the fearful 
struggle and all the sacrifices which we have been compelled, individually and 
as a nation, to make. If he had erred in his administrative duties, the party 
in power, by an appeal to the intelligence and patriotism of the people, would 
only have had a brief existence of four years. 

That no great harm could have befallen any particular interest, is known by 
the fact that every other department of the Government stood politically op- 
posed to him, and with a majority in eHch House of Congress, But the ''fiat" 
had gone fourth. Demagogues and traitors had partially prepared the public 
mind, and they were ready to enter upon their bloody experiment. And what 
was the Government to do? Must it yield to the demand of these maddened 
leaders? Must the nation's life be sacrificed, and without an eff"ort to preserve 
it ? Shall our nationality be destroyed, and the Government of the United 
States struck from the map of the nations of the earth ? Shall we be placed 
in the condition of a second-rate Power? Shall we give up the prestige and 
glory of our great name? Shall we be unmindful of the hallowed memories 
of the past, and our great obligations of the future ? 

Sir, men might as well have looked for the great luminary of day to be struck 
from the heavens without a convulsion in the material wi rid, or the cross of 
our Saviour to be darkened and obscured without a pang to the heart of 
Christianity, as to have seen this great nation, now known and honored 
throughout all the earth, to die without a struggle more terrible than auy 
which the world has witnessed since the " morning stars sang sweetly together." 
There was but one course for the President of the United States to pursue — 
meet the obligations of his oath, " to take care that the laws were faithfully 
executed," and to the best of his ability " preserve, protect and defend the Con- 
stitution of the United States ;" and in the discharge of these high and imper- 
ative duties he was entitled to the sympathy and support of every loyal and 
patriotic citizen of the Republic. No partisan zeal, no past or present diSerence 
of opinion on mere political topics, no hostility to supposed extreme theories 
held by the party in power, no sickly or morbid sympathy with those who were 
aiming a fatal stab at the nation's heart, ought to have prevented us from com- 
ing to the rescue, and saving the life of the Republic. 

Sir, it is idle to say that in meeting this great crisis the President has violated 
the Constitution of his country. It may be that, in some instances, doubtful 
powers may have been exercised, and the Constitution not strictly observed. 
But who caused these things? And with what bad grace does an objection of 
this kind come from the lips of those who, disregarding all the precepts of 
our beloved Washington, as contained in his Farewell Address, and the teach- 
ings of the great and good men of all parties throughout the history of the 
Republic, with sacrilegious hands, have torn in shreds the very charter of our 
liberties? Who put in peril the existence of the nation, and by their act 
threatened to turn back the tide of civilization and .of moral and intellectual 
progress upon the continent ? How can these men who have attempted to 
tear up the tree of liberty, root and branch, complain of those who, in order to 
preserve it, have only plucked a twig here and there from its ample boughs? 
Sir, it was either unconditional surrender to rebellion, and thus permit the na- 
tion to die, or to resist it with all the power which the Constitution had lodged 
in the hands of the President, in order to " defend, preserve and protect it*! " 
And, sir, whatever may be the judgment of the present hour, the gratitude of 
the nation and of mankind will be due to those who may save the Republic 
from overthrow. 

Lovers of peace, looking with dread and horror upon the fratricidal conflict 



wliicli now pierces their hearts with agony, were willing to let the seceded 
States go, in the vain hope that this might have prevented the shedding of 
blood ! and under the inliuence of the " sober second thought " they might have 
returned. Vain delusion ! There could be no such thing as peaceable seces- 
sion. Listen to that man of great renown, the favorite son of New England^ ■ 
but whose fame has added to his country's glory : 

" Peaceable secession ! Peaceable secession ! Sir, your eyes and mine are not destined 
to see that miracle? The dismeniberment of this vast country without convulsion 1 The 
breaking up of the great fountains of the deep without rippling the surface!" 

More than twenty-three hundred years ago, in one of the Republics of the 
Old World, the impolicy of secession, was clearly shown. That distinguished 
Athenian general, statesman and orator, Pericles, in one of his speeches 
against the revolt of Eubcea and Megara, two Grecian provinces, used the fol- 
lowing remarkable language, and so singularly applicable to the present condi- 
tion of things, in our country: ^'- No great Government can he respected, if frag- 
ment after fragment, mag he detached from it, loith impunitg ; if traitors are 
permitted to delude and discompose the contented, and to seduce the ignorant 
from their allegiance; if loyalty is a weakness, sedition a duty, consjjiracy 
wisdom, and rehcllion heroism /" 

The very idea of division brings to mind at once, a thousand causes that 
would lead to strife and war. One great inducement with those who formed 
the American Union was to prevent forever those intestine feuds, and ever 
present dangers which would spring up between independent States. Ques- 
tions of boundary, of revenues, of large standing armies, of commerce on the 
sea and on the land, of the free navigation of our great rivers ; these, and all 
other questions which from the beginning of time have been the foundation of 
national disputes and endless wars among the nations of the earth, would have 
existed in full force here. It is far better, if fight we must, to preserve the 
grandeur and glory of the nation, than by separation, to lay the foundation of 
perpetual strife with our posterity throughout all coming time. 

Never, Mr. Chairman, in the history of the nation, was there a time when 
we so much needed prudent and wise counsellors as at the present hour. While 
our armies are advancing with successs, and victory is shouted from every bat- 
tle-field, a single false step taken here may convert all into " Dead sea fruit." 
Discarding all Utopian dogmas, let us look steadily and only to the maintenance 
of the authority of the General Government, and the preservation of the Fed- 
eral Union. 

" Let all the ends thou aimest at be thy country's." 

Let not the people be deceived and deluded in regard to the objects of this 
war. Let us stand firmly by the resolution passed, with such great unanimity, 
at the extra session in July last: 

"That this war is not waged on our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any pur 
pose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the 
rights and establislied institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the suprem- 
acy of the Constitution and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, eiiuality, and 
rights of the several States unimpaired, and that as soon as these objects are accomplished 
the war ought to cease." 

In most of what I have seen coming from the pen of the President of the United 
States since his inauguration — in his messages to Congress, in his instructions to 
our ministers abroad, and in the general inliuence and tendency of his adminis- 
tration, as so eloquently and ably shown by the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. 
VooRiiEEs] a few days since, I am cheered with the belief that ho fully sanc- 
tions all that is contained in the foregoing resolution. In regard to the resolu- 
tion which passed this House a few days since, and which accompanied the 



8 

special message of the President, while I thought its introrlnction ill-timed, 
there were nevertheless great principles recognized in it, which I cheerfully 
indorse : 

1. That Congress has no constitutional power to interfere with the institution 
of slavery in any State whe-re it exists. 

2. That to tlie States themselves belong the exclusive control of the institution 
of slavery within their respective borders. 

r3. That if at any time the people of any State should chfioss to adopt a sys- 
tem of gradual emancipation, the General Government ought t> extend pecuni- 
ary aid to compensate the owners of slaves for any losses which they might 
sustain growing out of the change of system. 

I repeat that the principle of this resolution is right; the time of its intro- 
duction was unfortunate, and especially the indecent haste in which it was 
hurried through, without giving the Representatives from those States most 
deeply interested an opportunity even of consulting upon the subject. For one, 
I do not di'ubt the patriotic intentions of the President in sending here this 
raessfige and resolution. I believe that his object was to check the progress of 
radical measures. The people watch with great anxiety the course of the Ad- 
minisiration ; and in ord.-r that the purposes of the President may be distinctly 
known, I shall take the liberty of re-quoting here some passages from his mes- 
sages, arid also from instructions given by him to our ministers abroad. 

In his inaugural address, the President used the following language: 

"Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the southern States, that, by the 
accession of a Repubh'ean Administration, their property and their peace and personal 
sesurity are to be endangered. There has never been any reaonable cause for such 
apprehension. Indeed, tlie most ample evidence to the contrary has all tiie while existed, 
and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him 
who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches, when 1 declare that 
'I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in 
the States where it exif-ts.' I believe 1 have no lawful right to do so; and I have no in- 
clination to do so. And, more than this, they placed in the platform, for my acceptance, 
and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now 
read: 

" ' Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially 
the right of each State to order and control its own domestic' institutions according to its 
own judgment exclusively, is essential to tiiat balance of power on which the perfection 
and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by 
armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among 
the gravest of crimes.' 

"1 now reiterate these sentiments ; and in doing so I only press upon the public atten- 
tion tlie most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the property, 
peace, and security of no section are to be in anywise endangered by the now incoming 
Administration. 

"I add, too, that all the protection which, consistentlj^ with the Constitution and the 
laws, can be given will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, 
for whatever cause, as cheerfully to one section as to another." 

" I hold that in the contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution, the Unioa 
ef these States is perpetual." 

*♦»»******* 

"It follows from these views that no State, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully 
get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void; and 
that acts of violence witliin &\\y State or States against the authority of the United States 
are insurrectionary or I'evolutionary, according to circumstances. 

"I therefore consider, that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is 
unbroken." 

In the message the President laid before Congress at the special session in 
July last, he referred back to these just and pointed declarations, and applied 
them exprer.sly to the condition of the rebel States after the rebellion should 
be suppressed. With most wise and fortunate anticipation he tben said : 



"Lest there be some uneasiness in the minds of candid men as to -what is to be the 
course of the Goveinnient towards the southern States after the rebellion shall have been 
suppressed, the Executive deems it proper to say it will be his purpose then, as ever, to 
be eiiided by the Constitution and the laws; and that he will probably have no different 
underetandiiiig of the powers and duties of the Federal Government relatively to the 
rights of the Statics and the people under the Constitution than that expressed in the 
inaugural address." 

This is full and explicit. It is unmistakable. It leaves no room for doubt. 
In strict conformity to this view, Mr. Seward, in his letter of instructions, in 
April last, to Mr. Dayton, our minister at I'aris, said: 

"I need not further elaborate the proposition that the revolution is without a cause; 
it has not even a pretext. 

"It is just as clear that it is without an object. Moral and physical causes have de- 
termined inflexibly the character of each one of the Territories over which tlip dispute 
has arisen, and both parties after the election harmoniously agreed on all the Federal 
laws required for their organization. The Territories will remain in all respects the same 
whether the revolution shall succeed or shall fail. The condition of. slavery in the 
several States will remain ju-*t the same whether it succeed or fail. There is not even a 
pretext for the complaint that the disaffected States are to be conquered by the United 
States if the revolution fail ; for the rights of the States and the condition of every human 
being in them will remain subject to exactly the same laws and forms of administration 
■whether the revolution shall succeed or fail In the one case the States would be fed- 
erally connected with the new confederacy ; in the other they would, as now, be members 
of the United States; but their constitutions and laws, customs, habits, and institutions, 
in either case, will remain the same. 

"It is hardly necessary to add to this incontestible statement the further fact that the 
new President, as well as the piti;<ens thi-ough whose suffrages he has come into the Ad- 
ministration, has always repudiated all designs whatever and wlienever imputed to him 
and them of disturbing the system of slavei-y as it is existing under the Constitution and 
laws. The ease, however, would not be fully presented if I were to omit to say tliat any 
such effort on his part would be unconstitutional ; and all his actions in that direction 
•would be prevented by the judicial authority, even though they were assented to by 
Congress and the people." 

Of the same tenor are Mr. Seward's instructions on this point to our minister 
at London in the same month of the same year. I make the following preg- 
nant extracts from this elaborate paper : 

"The movement, therefore, in the opinion of the President, tends directly to anarchy 
in the seceding States, as similar movements in similar circumstances have alread_y re- 
sulted in Sjmnish America, and especially in Mexico. He believes, nevertheless, that the 
citizens of those States, as well as the citizens of the other States, are too intelligent, 
considerate, and wise to follow the leaders to that disastrous end. For these reasons, he 
would. not be disposed to reject a cardinal dogma of theirs, namely, that the Federal 
Government could not reduce the seceding States to obedience by conquest, even allhough 
he were disposed to question that proposition. But, in fact, the President willingly ac- 
cepts it as tiue. Only an imperial or despotic Goverimietit could sul)i\:gate thorongly 
disaffected and insurrectionary members of the State. This Federal, republican systeii 
of ours is, of ail forms of government, the very one which is most unfitted for such a labor. 
Happil}-, however, this is only an imaginary defect. The system has within itself ade- 
quate, peaceful, conservative, and recuperative forces." 

"You will indulge in no expressions of harshness or disrespect, or even impatience, 
concerning the Seceded States, their agents, or their people; but you will, on the con- 
trary, all the while remember that those States are now, as they always heretofore 
have been, and, notwitlistanding their temporary self-delusion, they must always con- 
tinue to be, equal and honored members of this Federal Union, aiul that their citizens, 
throughout all political misunderstandings and alienations, still are, and always must be, 
our kindred and countrymen." 

These views are sound, and must be indorsed by every just-thinking man. 
Surrounded as he is by the greatest difficulties and with responsibilities resting 
upon hiin that no other President ever liad, it is right for mc to express the 
conviction that from all I have seen of him and heard from him, Abraham 
Lincoln is governed by a sincere and patriotic desire to save the Constitution 



10 

AS IT IS, and to prevent tlie overthrow of the Government. To him the people 
ook, and in their behalf I make the appeal, not only to him, but to that large, 
controlling, and conservative element in the Republican party which elected 
him to stand by their country, and to prevent those excesses in legislation 
which must not only tend to prolong the war, enlarge the proportions of this 
already overgrown rebellion, and lay the foundation, eternal and enduring, of 
the most relentless and bitter hatred betwixt the two sections of the country. 

Acting upon the theory that the Federal Union remains unbroken, that all 
ordinances passed for this purpose are unconstitutional, and therefore null and 
void, that the authority of the Government is only for the time being suspended 
in those Slates that have seceded, and that all laws passed by Congress will, ia 
the end, be observed and executed in those States, it is at once appai'ent that 
with the accumulated debt of the rebellion in the southern States, superadded 
to their full proportion of the taxes which must be levied to pay the expenses 
of the war and to sustain the public credit, that their burdens for years to 
come must be very oppressive, far more so than those of the people of the 
loyal States. 

How far and in what form either the principles of justice or of necessity 
shall require these people to be subjected to still further exactions, become 
questions of the gravest importance, and requiring the forecast and sound judg- 
ment of the most experienced statesmanship. Shall they be required, in com- 
mon parlance, to "foot the bill," and to pay all the expenses occasioned by 
this wicked revolt? Will you pass laws confiscating the property of all those 
who have taken up arms against the Government, and who have in any way 
given " aid and comfort" to the rebellion ? Will you pass acts emancipating 
the slaves in the soulhern States ? Will you even go so far as to pass laws 
emancipaiing the slaves of those who have been actively engaged in the rebel- 
lion ? Will you blot out State lines, as has been proposed in the other end of 
the Capitol, and convert the whole southern country into territorial dependen- 
cies, to be controlled and governed by officers appointed by the General Gov- 
ernment ? 

Mr. Chairman, upon the answer to these solemn questions hangs yet the 
destiny of the nation. If in the affirmative, then the Government is lost, and 
the sun of liberty will go down upon this continent in a sea of blood ! Perhaps, 
sir, I owe as little to secession as any other member on this floor. The sanc- 
tity of my hearthstone has been violated, and my rights trampled under foot 
by these lawless men. But rising above all questions of personal feeling and 
party animosity, and looking alone to the safety of my country and the welfare 
of the whole people, I am at present opposed to any and all of these extreme 
measures. They cannot be adopted without doing the greatest injustice to 
thousands of faithful Uuion men to be found in every southern State, and who, 
with grateful hearts, will gladly welcome the old flag, that bright "banner of 
beauty and of glory," and dedicate their lives to its defence whenever they 
may dare to do so. Our first and hio^hest duty is to suppress the rebellion, and 
whatever legislation may be necessary within our constitutional power to do 
this, let it be had. 

Further than this, it is needless, nay, it is dangerous, to go noiv. Let us await 
the "tide of events," take counsel of our respective constituencies, ponder upon 
the " sober second thought," and in the iiilure, with that experience which 
the changed circumstances of the country will bring to us, we shall be the bet- 
ter able to devise a system of laws that will do injustice to no one, tend to re- 
unite the people of the whole Union, soften the asperities of the present hour, 
and bring about once more that kind and fraternal feeling, the loss of which is 
so much to be deplored by every Christian heart. To the extent that the laws 
of the country have been violated, let the guilty leaders be punished ; they 



11 

must not escape ; but extend to tbe masses, who have been deluded and mis- 
led, pardon and amnesty, upon the condition that they will return to their loy- 
alty and "siti no more," remembering always that the law inflicts its punish- 
ment upon the cruilty citizen, not so much t6 reform the ofTende- as to prevent 
a repetition of the crime. Let it not be said, Mr. Chairman, that the policy 
which I ind'cate is too gentle in times of disaster and revolution like these.— 
We must look to the effect which any system of laws that we may enact will 
have upon the country. 

My motto is, "save the nation at any cost;" but believing as I do that the 
Constitution atfords us the amplest power to do this, I am utterly opposed to 
its violation. Set it not be said, either, that I am governed by any puipose to 
shield and protect any interest which comes in contact with the safety of the 
Re2yuhUc and the integrity of the Union. In regard to African slavery, 1 value 
far higher the peimanency of the Government aud the preservation ot the Con- 
stitution — for these are essential to our oion liberties — than I do any question 
connected with the freedom or slavery of this inferior race of men. I desire 
to preserve the Government as it is, and to do this, I am for using all necessa- 
ry powers granted in the Constitution, executive, legislative, and judicial. But, 
sir, I do not wi>h to see the public mind agitated, and the nation's life still 
further endangered, not only by the pressure upon us of unconstitutional, but 
of idle humanitarian theories, and abstract 02)iomons, And least of all, it the 
nation must die, let there not be written upon its tomb the epitaph : " Here Hes a 
great people, who, in their efforts to give freedom to the African slave on this 
coutinent, lost their otvn liberties .'" 

Mr. Chairman, I can hardly presume that we shall ever have again in this 
country, or at least for many years to come, the same pleasant and agreeable 
condition of things which existed before the commencement of this wicked 
rebellion. This war, however, cannot last always. It must terminate, and, I 
sincerely trust, before a great while. It is a question of the deepest magnitude, 
and especially in those States where the rebellion exists, how matters are to be 
adjusted so as to produce the least possible sacrifice of the business interests of 
the country, and as little alienation among the great masses of the people. — 
Unless this be our object, a state of peace may be made more terrible even than 
a state of umr. In a short time we hope, under the lead of her distinguished 
son, that Tennessee, thrust out of the Union temporarily against the wishes of 
a large majority of her people, will return to assume her vacant seats in this 
Hall. And how are her representatives to be met, upon their entrance into 
this body ? Will it be as men coming from a coequal State, with all its " rights 
and dignity unimpaired.^" Shall we meet them at the threshold with manifes- 
tations" of joy? Shall the "fatted calf be killed ?" Or are they to be told that 
they have returned too late ; that Tennessee is no longer a State of the Ame- 
rican Union ; that we have, under the " war power," blotted out its existence, 
and converted it into a territorial dependency? Shall we attempt to console 
them with the idea that we had sent to them as their Governor some man of 
that extreme political school who originated the idea of destroying their State 
sovereignty, and blotting out State lines, and that their offices of honor and of 
profit were to be filled by the same class of men ? Shall we tell them, further- 
more, that in order to preserve among them the most agreeable aud harmoni- 
ous state of society, we had passed laws confiscating the property of one half 
of their iidiabitants ? Shall we say to them, still further, that, acting u]>on the 
theory of the gentleman from Kansas, [Mr. Conway,] "that by the act of se- 
cession they had dissolved the Union," we had treated them as " belligerents," 
under the law of nations, and, availing ourselves of these changed relations, we 
had broken up one of their established institutions, by emancipating all their 
slaves, amounting to two hundred and eighty thousand in number? That in 



12 

this, liowevor, we liad acted a very generous part toward them ; that we do 
not intend to remove? this servile race from among them; th^t tliey will still 
remain their neiglibors and friends, and that when they get them thoroughly 
educated and Christianized, they would make most agreeable members of so- 
ciety ! And that, in order most effectually to prevent tliem fiom leaving the 
territory, the northern States had commenced the passage of laws, and insert- 
ing into their respective State constitutions such amendments as these: 

"Art. XIII. — Sec. 1. No negro or mulatto shall come into or settle iu this State, after 
the adoption of this constitution. 

"Sec. 2. All contracts made with any negro or mulatto coming into the State, contrary 
to the provision of the foregoing section, shall be void; andanj' person who shall employ 
such negro or mulatto, or otherwise encourage him to remain in the State, shall be fined 
in any sum not less than ten dollars nor more than $500." — Constitution of Indiana. 

In the Constitution adopted by the convention lately held in Illinois, we find 
the following provision : 

"Art. XVIII — Sec. 1. No negro or mulatto shall migrate to or settle in this State, af- 
ter the adoption of this constitution. 

"Sec. 2. No negro or mulatto shall have the right of suffrage or hold any ofEce in this 
State. 

"Sec. 3. The Central Assembly shall pass all laws necessary to carry into effect the 
provision of this article." 

Is this your plan of reconstruction ? Is this the way you expect to save the 
Constitution and the Union? Is this the way you expect to win and, in the 
language of my good friend, (Mr. Crittenden,) " woo back" the people of the 
southern States? What! break up their State organizations, destroy forever 
their domestic tranquility, beggar them and their children, and yet expect 
them to return to their allegiance and become again peaceful and patriotic citi- 
zens? Sir, I ask is not this the ne 'plus ultra, oi human folly? I beseech you 
to abandon these unwise and impracticable measures. You have made by law 
the capital of the nation free! Be content. Let there be no farther congres- 
sional agitation of the question of slavery. Leave this question for all future 
time to the people of the States where it exists, and to be disposed of by them 
as they may deem best for the welfare of all concerned. Sir, I listened with 
infinite satisfaction to the able argument of the learned gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts (Mr. Thomas) a few days since against these extreme measures. I 
cordially indorse almost his entire speech. With such Republicans as himself, 
and of my friends from Indiana (Mr. Dunn) and from New Yoi'k, (Mr, Diven) 
and many others that I could name, my constituents could live, ay, and all the 
reasonable people of the South could live, upon terms of the most enduring 
friendship. Let the wisdom of such men guide and control the action of the 
dominant party here, and all will yet be well. 

Mr. Chairman, we were treated a short time ago, by the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania, (Mr. Davis,) to a disquisition upon the dignity of labor. Sir, 
this a noble theme, and if he had confined himself to the subject without going 
out of his way to make an onslaught upon the loyal people of the southern 
States, there was much which he said that met my hearty indorsement. Sir, 
I honor and respect the labgring man ; to him is our country, in a large de- 
gree, indebted for its rapid advancement in physical, moral, and mental im- 
provement ; and there is no better speciman of manhood to be found, and no 
higher and more admirable illustration of the beneficent influence of our free 
institutions than that of the man who by his own labor rises from the humbler 
to the higher walks of life ; and I care not in what department or in what di- 
rection these beneficial results of labor may be directed. And allow me to say 
sir, that these liberal sentiments are largely entertained by the people in that 
section of the country where I live. The gentleman from Pennsylvania, while 



IS 

leveling liis malice at the border slave States, seemed to think that the only 
motive which' prompted them to adhere to the Union was in order tiiat their 
institution of slavery might be made more secure ! 

Sir, I am ready to confess that I believe slavery to be more secure in the 
Union than it would be out of it, and especially so if we are to have such men 
as the gentleman from I'ennsylvania for our neighbors. But how unkind ; oh! 
how uncharitable, to attribute a motive like this to the brave and loyal men 
who have risked their all in endeavoring lo put down this rebcdlion. Is not 
their love of country as sincere, and their motives of action as pure and hon- 
orable, as those that guide and control the citizens of other States? Such 
attacks at this time are out of place here. They reach back to the foundation 
of the Government. They are aimed equally at the memories of many of those 
who aided in its establishnient — Washington and Jefferson, Madison, Clay, and 
Jackson, were not only southern men, but they were all slaveowners. While, 
if you will trace the history of slavery on this continent, you will find ihat the 
people of the northern States were as largely instrumental, and profited aa 
much in the establishment of African slavery here as did the southern people. 
Whatever guilt attaches to it in a moral or political point of view, it must be 
forever shared, aiid equally by the North and by the South. Sir, the great 
men of the South need no defence at my hands. There is not a page in your 
country's history that -is not illuminated and adorned by their wisdom, their 
patriotism, and their valor. P'rom the time that the first blow was struck in 
the cause of American independence, until the breaking out of this "accursed 
rebellion," there is scarcely a battle-field whose sands were not moistened by 
the blood of patriotic southern men. To them the world is largely indebted 
for the est bli^lllnent of free governraenton this continent. And the cause of 
humanity and liberty in the distant regions of the earth have had no truer and 
warmer advocil^s than southern men in this Capitol, and whose eloquent words 
come 

, "So softly, that like flakes of feathered enow, 

They luelteJ as Ihey fell." 

No, sir, the Union men of the border slave States, estimating at their true 
value all the blessings conferred upon them by the Union, regarding the Fed- 
eral Constitution and the Government established under it as the best ever in- 
stituted among men, following the teachings of the Father of his Country, and 
desiring to hand down to their^children these pricelo.s gifts, they have and arc 
now risking all that is dear to them for its preservation, and but tor whose ac- 
tion this day the (government would inevital'ly have been destroyed. And 
these croakings come with b.id grace, especially from those whose action has 
contributed so much to the present unfoitunate state of things, and who setting 
aside the Constitution as their guide and rule of action, are pressing upon U3 
daily the mo.st ;tl)surd propositions, the success of which must at once destroy 
the last vestige o, hope for the reconstruction and salvation of the (;iovernment. 

(Here the liammer of the Chairman fell, the hour having expired.) 

Mr. Dunn, ol Indiana. Mr. Chairman, I move that the gentleman from 
Missouri be all... wed to proceed with his remarks, and that his time be extended. 

The Chaikman. If there be no objection, the gentleman from Missouri will 
continue his remarks. 

There being no objection, Mr. Rollins said : 

I will detain the committee but a short time longer. Mr. Chairman, 
it has been charged here that Kentucky desired to dictate the policy of the 
uation ! Sir,' I love and honor the people of that noble and proud old Com- 
monwealth. It is the land of my birth. Beneath her SMcred soil rests the ashes 
of the immortal Clay. It is the home of Crittenden, and 1 trust I shall ever bo 



14 

as sensitive in regard to her reputation as the brave and true men around me, 
who so faithfully represent her interests here. Where are the evidences of the 
truth of this charge? Sir, they do not exist. Kentucky does not wish to 
dictate the policy of the nation further than to keep the nation right. At the 
commencement of this rebellion Kentucky did all in her power to preserve the 
peace and prevent this fratricidal war. In the councils of the nation and before 
the assemblies of the people she plead with all the earnest enthusiasm of a 
warm hearted patriotism; she offered to the nation, through her illustrious son, 
terms of conciliation and compromise, which ought to have been accepted. 
But her voice was unheeded. Neither section would listen to her timely and 
generous appeals. Strife and bitterness seemed to have filled the hearts of men 
on every side. 

Yet Kentucky did not falter ; seeing the danger of her own position, and 
knowing that her fair fields would be the inevitable theater upon which the 
heavy clash of arms would first be felt, and realizing the natural sympathies of 
her own people with the southern States, and the misrepresentations by which 
bold leaders and crafty traitors expected to mislead the honest masses, the 
loyal men of Kentucky had a most difficult and critical duty to discharge. 
With what fidelity and good judgment she met the crisis, let the history of 
passing events tell. No crimes or blunders were committed by her true sons, 
ilejecting all false theories spiinging out of the secession movement, forgetting 
the sympathies which were appealed to in order to enlist her in the southern 
cause, rising to a true national position, and planting herself upon the bulwarks 
of the Federal Constitution, she threw off" her neutrality, unsheathed her sword, 
and by the side of the gallant men who flocked to her rescue, from Ohio, Indi- 
ana, Illinois, and other loyal States, she bid defiance to traitors, and proclaimed, 
in the language of the immortal Jackson: "The Federal Union, it must be 
preserved." Upon the crimson fields of Wildcat, of Somerset, of Fort Henry, 
of Fort Donelson, and Pittsburg Landing, she illustrated anew her deep devo- 
tion to the cause of constitutional liberty. . 

No, sir; Kentucky has not attempted or desired to dictate the policy of the 
nation in this terrible crisis. She has done her whole duty under the most 
trying and difficult circumstances that ever surrounded a brave and chivalrous 
people ; with true and filial devotion she has bared her bosom, and received 
the blow which was intended for the heart of the nation ; poised upon her own 
great centers of truth and loyalty, she has resisted every appeal made to her by 
recreant sons, and stood as a wall of fire to check the encroachments of those 
whose purpose was to destroy the nation. What I have said of Kentucky is 
equally true of the other border slave States — Maryland, Western Virginia, 
Delaware, and Missouri. They regard American nationality as the precious 
casket in which is contained the priceless gift of free institutions, and they 
would regard themselves as alike recreant to their generation, to posterity, and 
to struggling humanity throughout the world, if they failed to do tlueir part 
towards preserving and transmitting unimpaired to future gcnerations^this sacred 
and invaluable trust. 

Sir, whatever others may have done, or may yet do, to uphold and maintain 
the Government and the Constitution, the loyal men of the border slave States, 
as long as time shall last and free institutions be prized among men, will be 
remembered and honored for their heroic courage and devoted patriotism. Like 
poor old Lear, they have withstood the "peltings of the pitiless storm" that 
raged around them ; have checked and rolled back the mad waves of passion 
and prejudice which were sweeping with desolating fury over the land, and 
threatening to ingulf all that was most precious on this continent. For the 
sake of their country and its free institutions they have sacrificed their material 
interests, broken the tcnderest ties of family and of social life, and determined 



15 

either to perish or to save from dismemberment and ruin the Union and the 
Constitution, threatened by the fierce assaults of ambitious leaders and their 
deluded and misguided followers. And, sir, as long as a love of libeity and 
of free government shall find a lodgment in the hearts of men, the names of 
Johnson, of Etheridge, of Prentice, of Guthrie, of Davis, of Gamble, of Bates, 
of Phelps, and though last, yet first, of my venerable friend who sits before me, 
[Mr, Crittexdex,] will be associated with the founders of republican govern- 
ment on this centiuent. 

Mr. Chairman, I fear the end is not yet. My mind alternating betwixt liope 
and fear, I put my faith upon the patriotism and good sense of the great ma- 
jority of the American people, and the kindness of that good Providence that 
has thus far watched over and guided our country through all the dangers 
which have beset us : 

"A thousand j'ears scarce serve to form a State, 
An hour may lay it in the dust; and wlien 
Can man its shattered splendor renovate, 
Recall its virtues back, and vanquisli time and fate?" 

What we most need in the present hour is calm and prudent counsels in our 
legislative halls. I am sincere in the belief that the Government is in more 
danger from the indiscreet action of impracticable politicians and misguided 
theorists than from any failure of our arms. What we want is a great Union 
conservative party, made up from all other parties, within whose folds may be 
gathered the good men of the nation. North and South, planted firmly on the 
Constitution, and determined to resist and to overthrow the aggressions of ex- 
tremists, and, by a liberal and beneficent policy, win back the wandering chil- 
dren of the Republic to their duty and their loyalty. 

Sir, if my poor voice could reach our distant brethren in the South, I w-ould 
ask each and every one of them, what has the South gained by secession ? 
What has any one southern State gained by secession ? What has any one 
individual in all the South gained by secession? Has it or is it likely to give 
to them a better form of government ? Is their property more se-ui-e ? Has 
it brought peace and happiness to their firesides, prosperity to their business? 
Have they profited in any respect by this movement ? On the contrary, have 
not the ambitious leaders who put^on foot this rebellion, contrary to the wishes 
and better judgment of the masses, brought bankruptcy, ruin, and desolation 
upon the entire South ? There never was, so far as I know, a single solitary 
meeting of the people asking a change of Government. The movement did not 
originate with the people themselves. They are patriotic. It originated with 
Davis and his traitorous crew in this Capitol. And oh ! 

" Is there not some chosen curse, 
Some hidden thunder in the stores of Heaven, 
• Red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man 
Who owes his greatness to his country's ruin ?" 

The masses were happy and contented, satisfied with their Government as it 
was. Living under the protection and benign inlluence of a free Constitution 
and wholesome laws, they asked for no change, they wanted none, and they 
are now sighing for the old order of things. This monstrous crime of involving 
the country in lebellion and war lies at the door of uneasy and discontented 
politicians, reckless and maddened leaders, and was gotten up to promote their 
own reckless and selfish ends. A day of terrible retribution awaits them. Like 
• Actseon, in heathen mythology, they will, in the end, be destroyed by their 
own friends. The loyal citizens of the South, deceived and betrayed, will in 
due season turn upon them and punish them for their crimes; while the great 
and benificent Government, the glory and admiration of every loyal American 
heart, planted amidst all the perils and dangers of our revolutionary contiict, will 



16 

exert its authority throughout the length and breadth of the nation, and our 
hearts will be once raore cheered and animated at the sight of the " old flag," 
baptized, as it will have been, in fire and blood, planted securely upon every 
mountain top and in every valley, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. 

Mr. Chairman, the effect of this revolution will be to settle, and forever, cer- 
tain daiigwous theories si7i-ingii>g-t)'ut of our form of government, and tendinor 
constantly to a collision between the State and national authorities. 

"Sweet ar^ flie uses of adversity, --• * 

Which, like tlie load, ugly and venomous, 
Wears yet a precious jewel in its head." 

The nation haeUbeen convulsed t^ts centre; thousands of true and brave 
men have been sacrificed in the contest; we have created a national debt which 
will be a heavy burden to the present and to several generations which will 
come after us ; but all these are as nathing compared with the value of the life 
of the nation. The people will not murmur if the Constitution is preserved, 
and our matchless form of government not seHously impaired. They will feel 
assured that no such revolution will be attempted again for -"-light and tran- 
sient causes." They will feel their faith greatly strengthened in rejyuhlican 
institutions. ^^ 

The experiment will have been thoroughly tested as to the ability of the 
people to govern themselves. 'And, , ) 

" When wild war's deadly blast is o'er," 

and the angel of peace shall once more spread his bright wings across the con- 
tinent, starling afresh in the race.of nations, and purified by the severe ordeal 
through which jye hav5 been comnelled tj3 pass, we will be a wiser, a better, 
and a stronger people; and when men have^rettirned to the peaceful pursuits 
of private lii'e, and society shall have assumed again the steady forms of law 
and order, the energies of the masses will be unchained in new fields of enter- 
prise that will lure them on to reinstate their fortunes, and despite the terrors 
and calamities of the frightful and unnatural revolution through which we are 
now passing, our great nation, with the strength of a young giant, will at one 
bound assume its lost position, and go forward in the march of improvement 
in a manner tliat will eclipse even our formeu unparalleled success; and before 
the close of the present century', in all the elements of power and of national 
strength, and in our contributions to science and literature, to art, to arms, to 
commerce, to manufactures, to agriculture, we will assume a position second to 
no other civilized nation in the world. ^ 

Mr. Chairman, in casting our eyes across the beautiful valley westward, "we 
behold a vast but unfinished monument, intended by his aft'ectionate country- 
men to perpetuate a lively recollection of the virtues and character of Wash- 
ington. Each State of the American Union has contributed a part of the ma- 
terial of which this beautiful shaft is built. From one a block of limestone,, 
from another a block of marble, from another a block of granite, from anotheri 
a block of quartz, sprinkled with gold The motto of the great State thatl 
I have the honor, in part, to represent in this Hall, is, " United we stand;. 
divided ivefall^'^ and in her contribution to the Washington monument she haM 
sent here a t)lock of solid iron, carved from her own great mountain, typical ofl 
her vast mineral resources, and of her strength and power when these resources 
are fully developed, and indicating further that, as iron is vnore durable than 
marble or granite, so Missouri will be more steadfast in maintaining the Union 
OF TiiESK Statics, and in preserving the Constitution and Government which 
WASHINGTON gave to us. .^ 

• W60 -^'f 



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